down (up) with words

The latest super-useful word is "down." It is a perfect compliment to his increasingly stubborn and willful disposition. Often, when being picked up against his will, he will raise his arm's so that the lifter no longer has the advantage of hooking their hands in his armpits. He will yell "DOWN!" as he does this. He also yells "down" when in his crib, highchair, carseat, or on the bed.

But recently, he has started up something new with down. Most situations that call for down involve being in an uncomfortable or unhappy spot in view of a better, more fun spot. As a result "down" has come to mean, "improve my general situation." Today, Jaime brought David to the office so we could lunch together. I had to show him off to everyone. At one point, he was standing on the floor while my boss tried to make friends. Suddenly, he bent over, touching the floor, and said "down."

"Um, you are down," I replied. "Do you mean 'up?'"

He raises his arms, "up!" I pick him up.

Later, meeting someone else, he turned and hugged his mom's legs and said, "down."

"Do you mean 'up?'"

"Up!"

lies! all lies!

I just discovered that an alum from my high school has a blog. Even though she only uses her first name, Alisha, I have deduced that it is the Alisha I know based on these two facts.

1) She is in New York, where I happen to know Alisha went.
2) Her comments are populated by people named Dan, Missy, and Valerie (through whose blog I found Alisha's). Those are the name of the people in the social circle to whom Alisha belonged in high school.

This social circle even had a name--"The [name of my high school] Players." As you might guess, the "Players" were our high school's elite cast of Baseball Players--those students most likely to go on to actually achieve professional, or at least minor league, status in the Great American Sport. In spite of my fondness for the game, I never became a player for two important reasons unrelated to lack of talent:

1) Some pretty serious doping allegations among the upper classmen
2) I'm sure you can all relate to this: as much as one may like baseball playing, one may not actually like having to be around baseball players.

But the Players did well. As I mentioned, Alisha is in New York, so I assume that she is working her way up through the New York Highlanders club. Val, as we all know, plays for the Twins. I don't know about Dan and Missy. Alisha makes a reference to Missy's kids, but I can't confirm that they are Dan's as well.

Meanwhile, David ran up to me in church this evening squealing "daddy!" It was a proud moment. Then, while I was holding him, he leaned towards our priest's wife, pointed, and said "daddy!"

good morning

when I'm getting ready to go to work early in the morning

and David wakes up

plays with his fingers contentedly for awhile

and then stands up and sees me

and says "hi!"

and then points excitedly at mommy still in bed and runs through his
list, "daddy, nanna, papa, meemameema!"

jumps up and down and squeels and giggles

and I take him out of his crib and put him on the edge of the bed

and he crawls to her squeeling and gives her head a hug and a kiss

and rolls over on his back leaning against her with his arms spread out
and giggles and blushes

when they sit on the bed and read as the morning sun brightens the room

that is a good morning.

The fun doesn't stop there

So, as I kick back tonight I (after finishing a 10 page paper) I thought I would share what I am enjoying.

First: Yahoo Launch Music. Favorite stations for the moment, Big Hits of the 80's and 90's.

Favorite website which reminds me of highschool: http://www.webguys.com/pdavis/karate/tikwanleep.html

listening to it puts a smile on my face every time I hear the boot hit the head.

Enjoy!

Now it's just painful

Total apologies for such a long absence. Jason is working and I'm working on going nuts. It doesn't leave us much time to blog, especially with JackJack walking around now.

So here I am, drinking wine, celebrating the fact that I am almost done with my undergrad. Let us all have a moment of silence for the last three painful years......

Please mail generous portions of sanity to my PO Box so I can get through grad school next year.

But enough about me, you are all here for David, right?

Well, he is now super mobile. He has not mastered running or wallking for long periods of time, but he is getting there. Now we have to be extra watchful of the dave devil and his love of stairs. Yup, we still do not have a baby gate for the stairs. Our motto is, "Whatever doesn't kill ya, makes ya stronger". Now, whether that applies to us and our heart conditions, or David and his body, its hard to tell. I bet we could get rid of every toy in the house except the Motzart cube, the LeapFrog book, and all the balls and David could content himself on the stairs with those toys until prom.

Two new baby toy ideas:
The Bungee Harness for the stairs. It enables the parents to safely leave Jr. on the steps for hours with minimal risk of bodily injury. Comes with a free kit for Nurfing the stairs so as to provide a softer land.
Baby StairMaster. Complete with a ball fixed in the front so baby always has his goal in sight. Not only does it provide hours of fun without the nasty side effects of conventional stairs and gravity, it also helps baby work off that stubborn baby fat.

So, yeah, he still loves the stairs. I took him for a walk tonight and he totally stopped at the base of every set of stairs we passed in the hopes of a quick climb. Mountain Climbing Doctors of America, I have your poster child. Step aside Gerber Baby, Here comes JackJack David, Mt. Everest Baby.

If anyone would like to invest in a rock climbing wall for Christmas we would really appreciate it.

New Favorite Word: AaaBee (Abey- family dog)
Word/Phrase mom wants him to say: Nana Sushi (a.k.a. Grandma Susie)
Most endearing action/moment: Every morning when Jason puts him in bed with me and he crawls over and says MaMa and comes in for the hug and kiss. This is the only time during the day he is this affectionate. Melts my heart everytime. Which is good for him because I am getting tired of the sleepless nights.
New favorite sound: (David, what sound does a lion make?) Roar! Way cute.

As the semester ends and I get a little bit of a break I would like to personally thank from the bottom of my heart all the people who have helped me get by:
Jason, I can't even begin to tell you how much you mean to me. I love you more every day.
Carla and Alex, you guys rock! Thank you so much for all of your generosity, support, and free babysitting. Thank you for putting up with us : )
Nikki, Thank you for watching David, being cool, having an awesome son who likes to play with David, and getting those super cute puppies.
Mom & Steve, the jet setting vaccation destination. You take care of us all and we are forever grateful.
Dad & Kim, Our KC connection. Thank you for always providing a place to hang and a sitter for the movies.
Fr. Joseph, You have kept us going. Thank you so much for being a wonderful support and friend.
Fr. John, God Bless you and Keep you always. May your memory be eternal.
All of our friends and relatives, we could not survive without your love and support. Thank you for always being there for us.
I would also like to thank the Acadamy for finally acknowledging my talents in the role of mother wife and student. I would like to thank my agent for landing me such challenging roles.....oh, wait, I think I have gone too far. My bad.

With much love,
jaime